The bond between a pet and its owner can be among the strongest relationships in a person's life. Many pet owners report that they consider their pets to be part of the family, and as a result many pet owners take great care to tend to their pet's needs as well as their comfort. In 2003, it has been reported that pet owners will spend over 33 billion dollars on products that cater to pets in one form or another. Much attention in this market has been spent recently on upscale products that cater to affluent or indulgent pet owners who seek to pamper their pet with special conveniences and amenities, such as gourmet pet foods, pet apparel, and pet furniture. For some pet owners, nothing is too good for their pet.
One area of particular interest that has not been the subject of much attention, but which is present is virtually all of the instances of pet ownership, is the concern over a pet's isolation when the owner is away. Whether the separation is due to the owner working all day, traveling, vacationing, or merely that the owner is at one of many locations that does not permit the pet to accompany it, there may exist a strong desire on the owner's part to communicate with the pet. The owner is often concerned about the pet's isolation and the pet craves contact with its owner when left alone. Yet heretofore there is little in the way of technology that will allow a pet owner situated at a remote location to contact his or her pet and ensure that the pet will receive the message. The frustration in an absence of any reliable means for communicating to one's pet can be extreme to a pet owner.
While the need for remote communication with one's pet is largely ignored, there exists devices in the prior art to convey commands, particularly to corral or limit a pet's movement. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,696 to Tobias purports to disclose a dog collar with a receiver unit that can broadcast a tone or human message conducted at a local transmitter. In one embodiment, the receiver emits a tone that may be outside the audible range of humans but perceived by the canine, while in another embodiment the receiver includes an amplifier and speaker that emits a human voice. The Tobias device acts as a local, one-way walkie talkie that allows short range communication pet. Another hand-held RF transmitter and matched RF receiver on a dog collar is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,882 to Yamall, Sr. et al. Yamall's device is directed to a pet confinement system that emits either an electric shock or alarm if the animal attempts to exit a confinement zone, and signals a base station that the animal has approached the boundaries of the confinement area. In Arthur et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,207,179, a pet confinement system is disclosed wherein the pet is outfitted with a collar that includes an RF receiver and a digital voice recorder that allows playback of pre-recorded audio messages. The playback is triggered by the proximity of the dog's collar, which includes an antenna, with a loop antenna placed around the boundary which broadcasts the RF signal encoded with a spoken command. As the animal approaches the confinement boundary, the receiver picks up the signals and broadcasts the decoded message as audible speech.
The foregoing disclose apparatus for extending communication between a pet and an owner in a local area, but lack the capacity to allow communication from distances beyond the limits of the receiver/transmitter range—typically on the order of one mile or less. Thus, the devices can be used for owners with large properties to communicate over short distances with animals that are allowed to explore and roam. However, there devices described above do not permit a pet owner at a remote location (work, vacation, etc.) to communicate with his or her pet, and the pet owner is left knowing that the beloved pet may be without human contact—or at least its owner's voice—for the duration of the owner's stay. This may cause the owner to be depressed over missing the animal and the separation may also manifest itself in the animal's behavior. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a device and system that allows a pet owner to communicate through long distances with his pet at any time, without additional human involvement or limitations on distance between the owner and the pet.